


Druck vereinfacht Entscheidungen

by Cherrytreegirl



Series: Es gibt viele Faktoren die das Leben beeinflussen können [4]
Category: Das Boot (TV 2018)
Genre: Canon Divergence, Ehrenberg is only mentioned once tho, Hoffmann is sick so he cant think straight lol, Hoffmann is still very dense, M/M, Not really canon compliant anymore, Period-Typical Homophobia, WWII, enemies to not enemies? but very slow, mainly introspective, no beta we die like Sam Greenwood, still very bad at tagging
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-23
Updated: 2021-01-23
Packaged: 2021-03-15 16:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,057
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28941549
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Cherrytreegirl/pseuds/Cherrytreegirl
Summary: Sometimes you can think that somebody is absolutely incompetent and shouldn't have the command over a few hundred tons of German steel but still like them in a way. Sometimes that means trying not to get them killed by a bunch of angry seamen.
Relationships: Klaus Hoffmann/Karl Tennstedt
Series: Es gibt viele Faktoren die das Leben beeinflussen können [4]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2118996
Comments: 2
Kudos: 10





	Druck vereinfacht Entscheidungen

**Author's Note:**

> Another one? Incredible!  
> I know I should totally also work on my Cassandra/Klaus stories, but I already know where I'm going with this storyline so the words just don't stop coming!  
> Also, I hate canon, so fuck that, Tennstedt isn't dying on my fucking watch. (excuse my language)
> 
> ANYWAY, more clueless and dense Hoffmann coming your way, have fun!

The whole affair with Greenwood had been…. impractical. 

It was important to clarify here, he felt, that with “affair” is not meant a romantic and or sexual relationship but rather a thing or situation, Hoffmann always had taken his French classes seriously as a child and he found it a terrible manner to only associate foreign words with one of their meanings. Although he wasn’t quite sure why it was so important to him to clarify, it should have been rather obvious they hadn’t had any relations of sexual or romantic nature, Greenwood was an Ami after all and they were currently in a war against said people. As well as the fact that non platonic feelings between men were generally frowned upon in the Nazi ideology too. Any homosexual relationship to an enemy would likely be not only regarded as perverted and abhorrent but also treasonous, comparable in terribleness to trying to assassinate Adolf Hitler himself. So no, with “affair” he meant the things that had happened from the moment they took Samuel Greenwood on board until they reached their destination and exchanged him for Wrangel. 

But it alone likely wouldn’t have caused the chaos it did. 

Hoffmann knew that his behaviour had influenced the turn of events greatly, he was in parts at fault for what happened after they took Wrangel aboard. With a different commander, one with more experience, someone like Tennstedt perhaps, they would have made their way back in no time, glorious and successful. Or perhaps they would not have, the man was quite impulsive at times and perhaps they would have sunken through foolish behaviour. Either way, things would not have turned out the way they did. The affair with Greenwood had been impractical, yes, but it only got worse after.

The Kaleun was well aware that him surrendering a wounded soldier to the American ship certainly did not improve his relationship with the crew, and him getting sick and sicker didn’t help in proving his ability to lead them to war either, even if he hadn’t chosen to be sick. Well, jumping into the water most definitely hadn’t been beneficial given his already developing cold, but he couldn’t have let Greenwood drown and risk the Americans sinking them for it, it had been a trap after all. If Tennstedt wasn’t as impulsive it wouldn’t even have come to that, he had been punished for it as Hoffmann had promised, but pointing finger wasn’t helpful in this situation and even if he hadn’t gotten sicker from his somewhat involuntary dive, it probably still wouldn’t have changed the outcome of the mission. Wrangel was a convincing man and Hoffmann was disliked by the crew, there would have been issues sooner or later.

However, all of this he only realized a lot later, on soil far away from his Vaterland. 

In that moment the Kaleun had not in the least expected that Wrangel would cause a mutiny as soon as he was given the chance. 

What he did realize, though, was that the redhead was a madman, perhaps it was the reason why he was liked as a commander, he lacked all reason when enraged and only focused on his goal. (Overwhelmed by Siegeswillen one might say.) Hoffmann was very sure it would be fatal to the man one day. (And Hoffmann would turn out to be right about that as he learned many, many years after the war had ended, he somehow got through the rest of it relatively unscathed, from a letter he received. In it Ehrenberg, who also had survived miraculously, confessed to stabbing Wrangel with Hoffmann’s knife, which had been taken from Hoffmann as a means of disarming him and assuring he wouldn’t resist the mutineers, Ehrenberg, still plagued by the guilt of him not interfering in the mutiny, had been very glad to hear of Hoffmann’s survival and decided to write to him as soon as he had learned of his whereabouts.)

Another thing he had most definitely not expected was how hard Tennstedt tried to keep him not only alive but on board. Hoffmann had picked up on the conversation between the 1WO and Wrangel in a half daze, although their voices were muffled by not only the walls but also his clogged ears and his brain felt like the soft cotton balls his mother had sometimes used to clean the wounds on his knees with iodine when he fell and scraped them while playing, he was still able to follow along quite well. They were talking about him, or more precisely about what to do with him. 

Wrangel’s first suggestion had been to simply shoot Hoffmann, not a great solution if you asked him and Tennstedt had been equally opposed to that. Since outright murder didn’t seem to find him any support, Wrangel made other suggestions, one of which included having Hoffmann walk the plank like a pirate in a children’s book (most, like that one ended in a certain death for him) but the 1WO persistently declined all of Wrangel’s ideas, arguing that in his current state Hoffmann would hardly try to take back control, not to even speak of his chances at succeeding in that, and that they could simply keep him alive and onboard. It would also have the benefit that if there ever should be a trial, some people weren’t completely happy with the mutiny and could snitch on them, they had Hoffmann as a witness and could force him to deny those claims, saying he had been too sick and given command to Wrangel and Tennstedt. 

The man in question was surprised, to say the least, he had thought Tennstedt would be one of the first to agree to any option in getting rid of the Kaleun, but the 1WO seemed opposed to any scenario that included Hoffmann's death, and the only explanation he had for that, besides Tennstedt’s logic about the witness testimony of course (he had to give it to the man, as much as he disliked the thought of being forced to lie in court about the situation, that was pretty clever of an idea), was that perhaps the 1WO was a bigger fan of Hoffmann senior than he had originally assumed. Not that he’d really be missed by his father, the latter would probably rather agree with Wrangel if he saw what kind of pathetic excuse of a commander his son was, but Tennstedt didn’t know that, he possibly even thought the great war hero would be glad if his son was returned to him alive, protected by the brave second in command and that he’d get another medal or something.

The argument ended soon after, either they had found a solution they both agreed with, and Hoffmann had missed it, or Wrangel had decided that if he wasn’t able to convince Tennstedt, he simply wasn’t going to ask him. Which one it was didn’t really matter to Hoffmann right now though; his head was hurting from the intent focusing on their quiet talking and he found himself quickly drifting off into an uneasy sleep. 

Not even an hour later he was awoken and told to get dressed. Still half asleep he ascended the ladder up to the deck, the bright sunlight only further agitating his already forming migraine, Wrangel was already awaiting him eagerly, a wide grin on his face, filled with Schadenfreude. By the hull of U-612 floated a small Gummiboot, secured with a small rope that would soon be cut, the waves throwing it against the massive steel wall again and again. 

Thunk. 

Thunk. 

Thunk. 

So, that was his fate then, huh. He wondered why Tennstedt had agreed to that of all things, this was arguably worse than outright just shooting him. There were no paddles aboard the tiny boat, and the water supply they had mercifully given him was enough for perhaps a week, combined with the cruel sunlight shining down on him and reflecting in the water, it would be a slow death, there was hardly a chance of reaching land before he died of either dehydration or slowly starved to death, given, of course, the first storm didn't just overturn the glorified piece of floating rubber and he drowned, they were in the middle of the ocean after all. His only real chance would be to be picked up by another boat, in the best case a German Zerstörer, in the worst case an American ship, be it cargo or military, it wasn't likely they'd help him if they saw he was wearing a German uniform (the likelihood of them recognising it was obviously higher for soldiers than for ordinary seamen).

Hoffmann quickly learned that Tennstedt had not at all agreed, much like he had suspected earlier the mad redhead had simply elected not to ask Tennstedt any longer. Worse (for Tennstedt) even, it had apparently occurred to Wrangel that the stubbornness of the 1WO in keeping Hoffmann aboard was not only bothersome but also suspicious and he decided it was too dangerous to keep the 1WO. 

So, it happened that the U-612 lost both their Kaleun and the 1WO that day, set afloat in a tiny boat. How exactly Wrangel had convinced the crew to turn against Tennstedt of all people was rather puzzling to Hoffmann, as much as they despised him, they had been most loyal to the 1WO, but he had done it somehow. 

Perhaps he had told them a tale of how Tennstedt had suddenly changed his mind and didn’t want to participate in the mutiny any longer, or that he only wanted to keep Hoffmann because he was so honoured by the idea of working under his greatest hero’s son, that he couldn’t bear to set him afloat. That, because Hoffmann was the spitting image of his father in younger years (he wasn’t) whom Tennstedt was so inlove with, he couldn’t bring it over him to part ways with the Kaleun. Even just the suggestion that Tennstedt could be a homosexual would likely prompt even his biggest fans among the crew to turn against him, Hoffmann had rarely met a group of people who hated homosexuals as much as soldier (and U-Booter for that matter) did.

All of that was obviously Hühnerscheiße, Hoffmann was still sure that Tennstedt did not like him very much precisely because he was nothing like the great and mighty Hoffmann senior. And for the homosexual aspect, he obviously didn't know, but if he had to guess, he'd say it wasn't very likely. Tennstedt was quite convinced of the Nazi ideology and even though there was no ring on his finger he just didn't seem to be the type.

It occurred to him right then and there, though, that perhaps that was what had happened that fateful night he barely remembered.  
Tennstedt did admire Hoffmann's father, so he had promised Tennstedt he would introduce them and then promptly forgotten about it. It would also explain the disappointment in the 1WO’s voice, because he had gotten so close to meeting the big warhero in person but was then confronted with the terrible truth that his useless son had immediately forgotten about his promise. 

Hoffmann was sunken so deeply in his thoughts that he completely missed the rope being cut and the U-Boot disappearing under the waves, probably due to the fact that he was still sickish and his brain working slowly, only focusing on one thing at a time.

He was only jerked back to reality by the sound of Tennstedt audibly clearing his throat. The man was looking at him intently, as if waiting for a command, but there was no hierarchy out here.  
They were no longer Kaleun and 1WO, here they were Klaus Hoffmann and Karl Tennstedt. Two men in a lifeboat, in the middle of the ocean.  
The only things to be heard now, were the sound of waves smacking against the rubber and the winds brushing over the water, through their hair and getting caught in their jackets.  
If it hadn’t been for their uniforms, one could have easily forgotten there was a war going on, everything seemed so… peaceful.  
Hoffmann let his gaze wander over the horizon before he looked back at his boatmate across from him, their eyes locking for a moment.

“So…. What’s the plan?”


End file.
